


superstitious

by mochiseo



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band), Wonder Girls
Genre: Alternative Universe - Bleach, Gen, Yeri-Centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-11-05 08:24:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17915291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochiseo/pseuds/mochiseo
Summary: Kim Yerim is a skeptic.





	1. hitherto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hitherto (adv.) – until now.

i.

Rumour has it that Karukara Town is very,  _ very  _ haunted.

Kim Yerim is a skeptic. Not easily buying into the theories of sorts. She would read the articles, but she’s never close to even thinking deeper about the  _ what ifs  _ and the unknown that Karukara Town is seemingly infamous for.

She doesn’t push her own skepticism towards other townspeople, no. There’s no need for such effort. They already know she isn’t a believer, and they don’t really care. Kim Yerim doesn’t care much too. She is one person against many lowkey conspiracists. 

She also isn’t the only skeptic in this town.

It’s a tad bit of a coincidence that some of the other skeptics in town would also be her best friends; her unnies – Sooyoung and Seungwan. 

Sooyoung likes to poke fun at the theories. 

Seungwan just doesn’t like theories without concrete evidence. 

Yerim – there isn’t much of anything other than that she doesn’t believe. 

And she doesn’t need to have a reason other than that.

ii.

“Maybe one day, a ghost will come ask you out on a date?”

Sooyoung’s quips are boring and terrible. Yerim doesn’t make that fact unknown.

“So you’re  _ that  _ bored,” she deadpans. She can’t see the older girl’s raspberry face because she’s flipping through a book of Japanese mythology.

Seungwan storms in the flat not long after. Sooyoung stops, and that’s when Yerim finally looks up from her book.

Seungwan’s face is scarred; her right cheek bears a diagonal cut that runs to just the tip of her mouth. She has on a grey long wrap coat that Yerim doesn’t remember her wearing when she left. The younger girl shrugs the peculiar notion off as quick as she notices. Seungwan had been on a date, after all.

A  _ bad _ date, by the looks of it perhaps.

“Unnie?” Yerim says. “What happened to you? I’ll go get the first aid kit.”

Seungwan shakes her head. “No need. Thanks Yerim, but I just need to talk to Sooyoung privately.”

Sooyoung nods, stone-faced, following after Seungwan when she heads for her bedroom. 

Yerim has never seen Sooyoung that shaken before. 

iii.

Yerim frequents a local café which only opened a year or two before. Before its existence, next to the bookshop she visits as well, Yerim doesn’t bother with coffee when she’s studying.

The owners were the only baristas handling the café until Sooyoung quit her job at a bowling alley and acquired the job of a barista there. 

When Yerim enters the café two days after Seungwan came home with that huge scar on her cheek, a fleeting presence sends chills down her spine. She looks to her back so quickly it makes her look panicked.

“Something wrong, Yerim?” asks Joohyun. She’s one of the owners and handles the barista job in the day, along with Sooyoung.

Yerim shakes her head. “No, just thought someone was behind me.” 

“You want your usual?”

“Yeah. Can you add some peppermint bark on top of the whipped cream as well?”

“No problem!”

Yerim takes her usual seat at the booth nearest to the glass window of the café. The scenery of Karukara Town is calming. It contradicts to the many ridiculous haunted theories of this town, but then again, Yerim doesn’t want to judge.

As she’s reading through a chapter of shinigami in Japanese mythology, Joohyun sets coffee mug down and a plate of two croissants. The barista snoops a bit as Yerim is taking a sip of her coffee.

“Do you have a paper over this to write about, or?” Joohyun pokes.

“My parents had an interest for shinigami,” says Yerim. “When they died, I decided to learn more about shinigami so I could feel more connected to them.”

Joohyun hums. She stares at Yerim’s neatly written notes, as if she’s analysing her own research. “How long have you been looking shinigami up?”

“Three months.” 

She doesn’t get this question asked a lot; surprisingly, as well. Where there’s a haunted town, one researching about  _ shinigami  _ must have at least interacted with conspirators before. It isn’t as if she’s isolated; Sooyoung and Seungwan bother her enough. “Why do you ask?”

“Just curious.”

Joohyun heads back to the counter, and Yerim is left with a moment of confusion.

iv.

On Saturdays, Yerim works at a little shop that sells sundries, books, and candies.

Sooyoung and Seungwan frequent here, but it is Seulgi who recommended the job for her. Though they’ve only met on few occasions, Seulgi knows Yerim through many of Joohyun’s encounters, and anyways – it’s a really good job. Too good, in fact.

One Saturday afternoon, Seungwan bursts into the shop as if this is her own flat.

“Did Sunmi unnie restock on soul candy yet?”

Yerim sets her phone down. When she looks up, Seungwan is centimetres in distance between the girl. “Unnie, we do have soul candy. We just moved it to the far right corner, remember?”

“Right.”

This is no surprise for Yerim. Seungwan always comes in the shop with a different kind of energy. Yerim can’t make sense of it. Sure, Seungwan is peculiar. There’s no doubt in that.

But, like Yerim, Seungwan takes an interest in shinigami. She could talk about them all day long. There is just that part of Seungwan that analyses mythology as something people use to cope with life and its difficulties. However, her attitude towards shinigami says something else.

“Wannie!”

Sunmi pushes sliding wooden door behind the counter. Her hair’s a flying mess. She hasn’t caked up her face in makeup for the day. Her pink floral kimono she wore to sleep every night is undone, and Yerim forces the book she was reading back to her face to avoid looking at her boss’s bra.

Seungwan places two small packages of soul candy on the counter, ready to pay. “You dumbass. Yerimmie’s working today, remember!”

“So?” Sunmi says. “Yerim can look at me if she wanted to.”

Seungwan hits her with a force that pushes Sunmi back to the wooden door, a few metres away from the counter. 

“Oh shit.”

Yerim drops the book and brushes the fact that Seungwan –  _ Seungwan _ , for fuck’s sake – was able to punch that hard to help her boss.

But, as if it was nothing, Sunmi jumps up despite the knockback she just endured. 

“You goddamn crazy asshole!” Sunmi quips. “Take the soul candy on me, but you could’ve hurt Yerim-ah!”

“Sunmi unnie?” Yerim asks, exasperated. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve dealt with worse.”

Yerim catches Sunmi and Seungwan exchanging a look.  _ Have they – have they done this before? _

“Sorry,” says Seungwan. “Sooyoung and I fought today.”

“You lost?”

“...Shut up.”

Seungwan swipes the soul candy and leaves, but not without flicking a middle finger towards Sunmi.

“Bet you didn’t see that coming,” she says to Yerim after her flatmate left.

“Huh?”

Sunmi pats the college student’s shoulder. “One day, you’ll understand.”

“Understand what?”

“What’s weird with Karukara Town. Isn’t that what your research topic is about?”

Before Yerim could say anything else, Sunmi’s already through the wooden door, probably to change her clothes and fix her makeup.

v.

**sooyoung** [20:39] where the hell are you

**yerim** [20:40] walking home

**yerim** [20:40] my bike went down with a flat tire

**sooyoung** [20:40] i’ll come pick you up

**sooyoung** [20:40] where are you at

**yerim** [20:41] i just stopped at the bus stop near joohyun and seulgi unnie’s café

**sooyoung** [20:41] okay, seungwan is hella worried

**sooyoung** [20:41] we’re coming, don’t move

Yerim waits obediently.

It’s the first time she notices how cold it is. The wind is a slap to her face as she holds her skirt down. Shivering, the student zips up her Squirtle-themed hoodie and lifts the hood over her head. Luckily the fluffy lining keeps her upper body insulated, but she has to deal with her shivering thighs instead.

Puffing out a sigh, it comes out as a faint cloud, barely visible but still noticeable. With shaking hands, Yerim swipes her phone open and taps the weather app.  _ 19° C. _

_ What the fuck? _

**sooyoung** [20:43] we’re almost there

**yerim** [20:43] thank fuck

**yerim** [20:43] also why is the weather app not reading temperatures right again?? it says 19 when it feels like -12

**sooyoung** [20:44] yerim, it’s not that cold out

**sooyoung** [20:44] wait, do you feel really cold?? like to the point of freezing?

**yerim** [20:44] my breaths come out as clouds, i’m not exaggerating much

Yerim sees Sooyoung’s texting bubble for a prolonged time. Whatever she’s texting, it’s sending chills down the student’s back.

**sooyoung** [20:45] yerim. get out of there. seungwan and i will find you. but for right now, you have to abandon your bike and RUN.

Subsequently, the ground rumbles beneath Yerim’s feet. Or so she thinks it does; looking up, she sees a thin, black line in the night sky, and it tears open. From tear, something slithers out and drops from the sky. The whole world shakes. Yerim’s thoughts claw at her, scream at her to leave. 

Yerim couldn’t move. Her body couldn’t obey a single command from her thoughts. Stuck. Frozen.

The tear from the sky closes, and its escapee is slowly making its move towards her. It is a dark blob that’s gradually taking form. As it moves, it becomes more… humanoid. Pale limbs shape from a forming torso. They’re toned, cloaked in a white robe and loose black trousers that also forms.

Yerim feels their pressuring presence, as if they already have her in a choke hold. The cold worsens as they get nearer, and Yerim knows she’s going to die.

Their face is manic; a cruel, deranged smile that is taut, and glowing blue irises and constricted pupils. When they laugh, it’s intense cackling, and it echoes so much it renders Yerim nauseated. 

“Hmm, a soul with powerful reiatsu just floating by for me? Don’t mind if I do!”

Their hand reaches the hilt of a katana that Yerim misses to notice. A blast of icy wind throws her back, leaving her in the open road with the manic humanoid.

_ Sooyoung, Seungwan, please… _

In a blink of an eye, the humanoid is just meters away, charging at her with an unsheathed katana. 

_ This is it. This is how I’m going to die. _

There’s a flash of blinding light that before the katana makes impact.


	2. moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> moments (n.) – a brief period in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> school got in the way, sorry for not updating!
> 
> these chapters are short, ik, but they get longer, i promise!

vi.

**2 weeks earlier**

Seungwan slams the door shut. The blood dripping from her face scar dries. She quickly washes the gory cut in the bathroom.

Sooyoung’s breathing stops. Starts again. In moments like this, she is truly terrified. Because Seungwan doesn’t  _ get  _ mad. It takes a lot for her to slip. Then, if she does, she becomes exactly the picture of rage that terrifies people.

Seungwan’s anger is quiet. It’s not a volcano erupting, not an earthquake’s tremors oscillating violently. Simply, the air gets thick within her vicinity. If you are unfortunate enough, you will feel like your breath is choking you, stealing your days away. 

Because, in reality, it is. Seungwan saps out the energy within until you’re essentially dead. She can’t stabilise this ability to her best when her emotions go to extremes. Anger – that’s her worst trigger. And the most powerful.

“It’s starting again,” Sooyoung says with all the power she could muster.

Seungwan opens the bathroom door and inhales. The air loosens. Sooyoung’s breath returns.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” 

Seungwan shrinks. She shakes her head. “Sooyoung, they’re coming, and I-I couldn’t–”

Tears are also powerful. Sadness can strip the power of the best within moments. So Sooyoung clings on Seungwan’s small form when the older woman brings her head to her shoulder.

And sometimes, Seungwan’s too dense for her own good. This is where Sooyoung can just put a hand on the small of Seungwan’s back, and say: “Shut the fuck up, Wannie. It isn’t your sole duty to keep Karukara Town defended and I’m pretty sure it isn’t fucking yours only.”

Seungwan looks up at Sooyoung; the scar on her face has fully healed, and they can both rest for now.

vii.

**1 week earlier**

It’s late at night. Joohyun wraps up the last customer’s order with a smile. As she watches them stepping out the door, that’s when she thinks.

Three years ago, she and Seulgi left a dire situation and took haven in the small Karukara Town. People were desperate, so they casted out potential threats to maintain what little order they had. 

It was a gargantuan shift in normality. Joohyun and Seulgi hadn’t lived in such an environment for so long. A very long time. Then life began to calm down. Some sense of tranquility this town vibes remedied the stress.

They aren’t here to simply live among the locals, no; they could’ve disappeared into the mountains and survive there if they wanted to. There’s duty that needs to be taken care of. For how long they have to stay, Joohyun can’t tell.

What Joohyun knows is that there’s a threat looming in this town, though there isn’t so much to go on. She knows of a sundry shop owner by the name of Sunmi; this woman knew her before she arrived, but Joohyun has no recollection of someone like her in the past. Sunmi said it was fine, that no one remembers her anyway. Joohyun doesn’t leave much thought about it.

Suddenly, Seulgi’s front is near the counter. Joohyun blinks.

“Are you worried about her?” asks Seulgi.

Joohyun knows who. “Her?”

“Yerim. You’ve personally taken her orders and served them at her table the past week.” Seulgi leans her elbows on the wooden counter. She rests her chin on her palms.

“I’m staying vigilant,” Joohyun simply replies. “And Yeri knows I can act motherly towards her sometimes.”

“Yeri?”

“She says it’s a nickname she’s warming up to.” A sigh. “I miss her, Seulgi, I miss her so much.”

“I miss her too, Joohyun,” Seulgi says, “she’s one of the only people who ever believed me.”

Joohyun doesn’t know there are tears until a drop falls on her palm. She would have to dry them quickly. There isn’t time for her to dwell on her own emotions at the moment.

viii.

**Yesterday**

“You’re going to kill this gigai if you keep on like this!”

Yeeun shoots an arrow, and it’s fast. So fast, and so loud, it can pierce through people’s hearing miles away.

Sunmi is also fast. She catches the arrow with centimetres of space between the bridge of her nose. The death grip on the tip cuts the flesh of her palm, oozing red blood slowly.

“I’m supposed to be testing the durability of this gigai anyway,” she says. She throws the arrow to the side.

Yeeun scoffs. “I feel like I’m watching over a hormonal human teenager.”

“So, not that annoying after all?”

“You know what I mean,” replies Yeeun. “You also don’t have much time to build a gigai from scratch. You didn’t build your default gigai to withstand more than a mere human.”

Sunmi can ask if Yeeun’s prophetic visions hold any kind of concrete information in it, but she doesn’t have time for a 30 minute lecture about them. One slice of Karukara Town’s air is enough to enable a pretty accurate vision for now.

An attack is happening soon. Sunmi has to prepare.

ix.

**Present**

Yeri finds the katana shoved through her abdomen, but pain doesn’t register her mind until she sees the look of Seungwan’s face.

“Shit, Yerim!” cries the woman. “H-hold on, I’ll save you.”

Yeri can’t figure out the words Seungwan is saying after. Her senses are overwhelmed by the pain and the warm sensation of her blood oozing off. Her vision gets blurry. Her tongue tastes metallic. Her hearing is muffled. She feels cold.

The idea of closing her eyes is bizarrely attractive. Then, Seungwan’s loud voice snaps her eyes open. She recognises Sooyoung’s ghosting soft touch on her shoulder after. 

Unbeknownst to either of them, the keychain dangling on Yeri’s backpack is glowing. Glowing bright.

**Author's Note:**

> first kpop fic! i tried reading fics in aff but imo ao3’s format is way better (despite the controversy) and i’ve used this site for like two years already. 
> 
> anyways i’m a nerd so yeah i give you a rv bleach au with seulrene and wenjoy owo enjoy!


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